Citizen Deliberative Councils

Temporary councils of randomly and representatively chosen people to gather and deliberate, with access to expert information and opinions, on one or more issues of their community (state, etc.) and report back to the community.

These are not an opportunity for a bunch of people to sound off on their opinions and go home. They spend time really listening not just to the experts, but each other, so they are likely to run into at least some of the challenges that will come up in the real world. There is often facilitation to help them connecting with each other, and seeking solutions that work for everyone.

The government of Denmark organizes Technology Panels several times a year to look at different issues and give input to the legislature, which has made great use of it. Many corporations and some smaller governments are experimenting with these kinds of things.

This is TomAtlee's suggestion as a term -- see http://co-intelligence.org/P-CDCs.html and of course from TheTaoOfDemocracy (chapter 14, available there, is on CDCs?)

For context see http://co-intelligence.org/CIPol_publicjudgment.html

and more on CDCs? here: http://co-intelligence.org/CDCUsesAndPotency.html